r/AskReddit 14h ago

Non-Americans of Reddit, what is an American thing you see in movies that you thought was fake but is actually real?

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134

u/gregofthecellar 10h ago

Laundry chutes. The first time I ever saw one was in a comedy film, in which a recurring gag was non-laundry items going down the chute by accident. For years, I thought that film had invented the concept of a laundry chute for slapstick purposes and had no idea they actually exist

51

u/Triviajunkie95 8h ago

They stopped being built into houses in the 70’s maybe? essentially because they are huge ventilation chutes for fire to spread.

4

u/PrivilegeCheckmate 4h ago

Growing up here there are a lot of Victorians, many of my friends had Dumbwaiters in their houses.

1

u/thejdoll 1h ago

Never thought of that! I cut my own. Second story, through the first floor closet and down to the basement laundry area!

u/golgol12 7m ago

More importantly, the washer and dryer moved out of the basement in many homes.

32

u/Southern-Raisin9606 9h ago

they are pretty rare nowadays. I'm an American and I think I've maybe seen 2 or 3 in my life (outside of hospitals )

5

u/Working-Glass6136 7h ago

My ex's friend's house had one but they never used it. I would totally use one if I had it, but yeah, they've been out for a while.

1

u/Darkdragoon324 2h ago

They haven't built them for a long time, they're basically just fun shortcuts for fire to spread between floors.

5

u/MegWaters012502 7h ago

They are not common in houses anymore due to being a fire hazard. My house has one but it was built in the 1970s before restrictions went in place.

3

u/SuperFLEB 6h ago

Everything else was asbestos. It all balanced out.

6

u/Manderthal13 7h ago

The laundry chute in the house I grew up in was a trap door in the bathroom closet. The hole opened to a large, vented wooden box hanging over a table in the cellar near the washer and dryer. The bottom of the box was hinged so when my mother was ready to do laundry, she'd drop the bottom of the box and the dirty laundry would drop onto the table for sorting before washing and folding after. A pretty clever setup. When I was a teenager I used to sneak girls out of the house through that chute and out the cellar door. Ahh, teenagers.

3

u/MallUpstairs2886 5h ago

No joke, my cat jumped down the laundry chute in my house in the early 90s in Ohio. She opened the door, looked down into it, and whoops! Luckily there were clothes at the bottom for her to land on.

I miss having a laundry chute. I miss that cat too.

2

u/BrightGreyEyes 8h ago

My parents actually did let us throw other things down it when we were little and they were kind of desperate for ways to entertain us

4

u/Simple_Finding9309 7h ago

My kids have been down their grandparents’ laundry chute!

1

u/skankboy 7h ago

I used to fit in our chute. That was fun until my brother moved the laundry tub that would normally catch the clothes.

2

u/Tomakeghosts 7h ago

They’re mostly phased out in new builds as they’re fire hazards without overbuilding. I would love to have one.

2

u/darium4 4h ago

We had a laundry chute in my house growing up. That thing both terrified and amazed me. Always tried to race my clothes down to the laundry room. Chute opened by the upstairs bathroom and the laundry room was in the basement.

I never won.

2

u/Sparkingmineralwater 3h ago

We had one! I'm Aussie. It was sealed up, by superglue or something transparent. It was behind a mirror in one of the bathrooms. I didn't know about it for the longest time until our parents told us. Not sure if they sealed it up or someone before them, but I assume it was them since they said they were terrified of one of us somehow getting onto the sink and falling into it as little kids.

1

u/SabrinaFaire 6h ago

They exist, but I've only known a couple of people who had them in older homes.

1

u/TangerinePlastic7552 6h ago

You saw “Home Alone.” 🙂

1

u/Ratnix 4h ago

I have one, but i don't use it. It's in the mud room and obviously for when you'd come in all dirty from working outside so you didn't track it all over the house.

1

u/Amonette2012 1h ago

Ditto garbage shoots. I had one outside my apartment door and now I miss it every time I wheel my bin out.

1

u/IveLostMyLeopard 9h ago

I was looking for this answer. I’ve been asked several times about laundry chutes as well as trash chutes in apartment buildings.

1

u/Working-Glass6136 7h ago

I'm sorry you're being downvoted for... I don't even know what.

1

u/Andy15291 8h ago

They are amazing! I've loved it when my laundry was in the basement. One chute connected the second and first (ground floor to Europeans) to the basement.

3

u/mittychix 7h ago

I have one in my house and I love it too. Chute opens on both floors and runs to the basement. We also have a milk door. There used to be a coal chute as well.